146 Raven's Lane (by the cul-de-sac)
by Adara's Rose
Summary: A collection of drabbles focused on Draco and Luna Malfoy and their children at 146 Raven's Lane, how they got to be there and what their lives are like.
1. Chapter 1

"These drabbles are centered around the base idea that after the war Draco Malfoy was imprisoned for three years in azkaban. During this time, Luna gave birth to a pair of twins. They reunited after the war and married, starting a rather large family.  
p As such, this is an AU.  
The narration is out of order, as I will be posting snapshots of their life as they come to me. I will take requests and prompts if you want something specific.


	2. Sunday

She skips by his side, chattering and giggling, as merry as can be even at six months pregnant. Typical Luna. He's focused on driving the triplet pram and therefore isn't listening fully to what she is saying, but she doesn't mind. She never minds: she knows he cares for what she has to say and that normally he will listen for hours to whatever she wants to talk about, but when driving the children's pram he will not.

Bell and Bee are both sleeping peacefully, but Teddy is looking up at the both of them with adoration, all smiles. He smiles back at his little cousin and is rewarded by a happy giggle and the boy's hair turning a sharp, pale blonde.

The sun is shining brightly from the late summer sky above them, the gravel crunching beneath the pram wheel, the basket on his wife's arm creaking from its own weight and the rocking it endures from her constant movements.

He listens to her chatter, looks at his children, and for a moment he fears waking up - for surely this is only a beautiful dream.


	3. Mending Clothes

She sits hunched over her work, as close to the small candle as possible. Her fingers are quick and neat as she repairs the tear in his trousers, and he leans against the wall, letting the cool stones soothe the ache in his back as he watches. It's been a long day of hard work, but he's finally managed to get the oak varnish just right. Varnishing is hell on his clothes, though, and he's grown used to wash his shirt every night. The tear in the trousers was from when he walked home, though. In the darkness he didn't see the abandoned bin on the corner and collided with it. He has a spectacular bruise on his shin, but that's alright. It's the clothes that worry him: he only owns one pair of trousers and he needs them whole for work. Luckily Luna is a better seamstress then him, and when she holds up the repaired trousers to show her work, beaming with pride, he smiles back at her. The stitching is the neatest he's ever seen. But he can't help wishing she hadn't used pink thread.


	4. Glowing With It

Ginny looked down into her teacup, stirring slowly with the silver spoon.

"Sometimes" she said quietly, "I'm jealous of her. Luna."

"How do you mean?" her companion asked gently.

"It's just… I should have it all. I mean… if you compare. She is a housewife, I'm a famous quidditch player. My husband is the hero of the wizarding world while she married an ex-con. She's been pregnant more times than my mum and has a house stuffed to the rafters with kids. The ministry helps them every month to survive. They can't even afford to send their children to Hogwarts." She added another lump of sugar to the already sweet tea.

"My kids have the best clothes, best toys, broomsticks, anything they might wish for. We live in a beautiful house and have plenty of friends. She spends all her time with her children and her father. And yet…" GInny tried to smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "She has practically nothing, trying to make a galleon from five sickles and raise eleven kids on love, water and air… I've seen her around town a few times. She's always singing, always smiling, as if she's as happy as can be living as they do. I went past their house once. It's tiny and the neighborhood isn't the best, but there were flowers in the windows and her children were playing in the yard, happy as can be. I can't remember the last time I watched my children play in the yard."

They sat in silence for several minutes. Then Ginny took a deep breath and went on.

"I miss her" she whispered. "I wish I hadn't been so cruel when she told me she was carrying his baby. And now… I see her from a distance sometimes. She's thin and her dresses are patched and she always buys food on sale. And yet…" her eyes brightened with tears.

"And yet, she has the one thing that lately seems to elude Harry and me at every turn."

"What is that?"

"Happiness. She's practically glowing with it."


	5. Reunion

There is a young woman in a yellow sundress standing on the pier, clearly waiting. Her blond hair is a complete mess and she's wearing a pair of boots at least two sizes too big for her. Her slim arms are bare, but she doesn't seem affected by the chill in the air as she stands there. On each side of her is a toddler in a blue robe, both clinging to her legs. They are waiting, too.  
"When is daddy coming?" the left one demands, and the woman shrugs.  
"Soon." they fall back to silence, looking across the water to the prison on the other side. There is a small boat on its way over, but still too far away to make out who are on board. The woman waits, patiently. She has waited for this moment for nearly two years, she can wait a little longer. The parsnip earrings in her ears shift when she cocks her head to see the boat better. She can make out a familiar shape now, but oh how skinny he is! His hair is dull, hanging limply around his gaunt face. He needs a haircut, she notices. And a shave. The boat anchors and the passengers disembark. The ministry representative first, then the prisoner, last the two aurors. They unlock his chains and Draco Malfoy is again a free man after three years in azkaban.  
He comes towards her slowly, as if unsure of his welcome. How silly! Doesn't he know that she dreams of him every night? He stops about two feet from her and the children.  
"Hello" he says with a voice rusty from lack of use.  
"Hello Draco" she replies, smiling. They stand there for a few moments, both a little unsure. Then a little voice pipes up:  
"Sid you miss us, daddy?" and it's like a wall collapsing. Draco falls to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks as he opens his arms to the twins whom he's never seen before. You're not allowed to bring children into azkaban. They run to him without fear or hesitation, throwing themselves at their daddy. Luna runs after them, wrapping her arms around all of them. Sitting there on the docks, the little family cling together as the children hug their father and Luna kisses her husband over and over again.  
"Welcome home" she whispers between kisses. "Welcome home."


	6. Water

It's amazing, Luna thinks, how much filth can come off a man who's spent three years in a room about ten times fifteen feet. So far she's had to change the bath water three times and it's still grimy. Draco has not said a word since she got him into the tub, just scrubbed himself with an intense concentration she remembers from their Hogwarts days. As if nothing matters at this time apart from getting clean. Finally, he seems satisfied and climbs out of the tub, unashamed of his nudity. And why should he be ashamed? She's seen all of it before. Not only that, but had it before. Besides, at the present she is more interested in his hair. It has grown surprisingly long in the years he spent incarcerated, falling to just below his shoulders, and the state of it is worse than hers usually is. It obviously has not seen a comb or water for years.

She goes to her task with grim determination, battling the knots and tangles with single minded focus. It must be painful, but he sits still and silent without so much as a wince. The comb loses six teeth, two of them to the same tangle, but she does not stop. Eventually she has to use scissors to get rid of the worst of it. When the last knot has given away and her comb slides easily through his filthy hair, she picks up the scissors again. She cuts an elegant short bob she saw a man in a purple waistcoat have, letting the edge run just below the shell of his ear. It frames his gaunt face in a way that will be most dashing once he has put some weight on, she thinks as she refills the tub and helps him wash it. Oh yes, he's going to be very handsome when she's done with him.


	7. The Trial of Draco Malfoy

The courtroom is full nearly to the rafters with people, all of them having come to see the downfall of the man on trial today. Vultures, the lot of them. There is whispering and chittering and jeering amongst the gathered, but the blond woman at the back of the room sits quietly, hands clasped over her belly. If you look closely, you can see a gentle swell around her middle, but it is nearly hidden under her flowing blue dress.

The court is not yet in session, but the members of the jury have taken their seats. All that is left to wait for now, is the judge. Oh, and the defendant, of course. Great Judge Turpin enters the room now; he is old, leaning on a cane and followed by a nurse, but he has one of the sharpest minds in Britain and has judged many of the Death Eaters captured after the end of the war. Today, he is sitting in judgement over Draco Malfoy, known Death Eater, key participant in the attack of Hogwarts and suspected member of the Dark Lord's inner circle.

Luna presses her hands to her stomach and thinks about butterflies.

Judge Turpin calls for silence, and after the majority of the noise has settled down there is the rustling, clanging noise of the gate in the floor opening and the prisoner is raised into the cage in the middle of the room. It is the first time she sees him in nearly two months, and she bites her tongue to keep from crying out. He looks so thin and worn, in his torn clothes and his filthy hair. His hands are chained with his feet, but he looks so calm as he stands there. His back is ramrod straight and he looks straight ahead, proud as a prince, even in the situation he is in. Even in his wretched state, he is the most beautiful creature she has ever laid eyes on. As pretty as a thestral frolicking with a unicorn, terrible and lovely and lost and all alone. She wants to hug him, but the bars are in the way.

Luna hears very little of the trial, not that there is much to hear. The evidence is overwhelming and Draco does very little to defend himself. In fact, he says very little at all. It comes as no surprise to anyone when the Judge declares him guilty and announces the sentence: three years in azkaban without possibility of parole, the snapping of his wand and a ten-year ban on using any sort of spell. Then the cage is opened and he is dragged out between two burly guards, the crowd jeering and screaming and calling him monster and murderer and condemning him to hell. The only one who is silent, is her.

When they pass where she is sitting, she calls out to him.

"Draco!" He turns his head, startled.

"Please" he begs the guards, "just a moment. Give us just a moment." The dark haired one looks reluctant, but the blond nods slowly, stopping briefly. She does not know who they are and it does not matter as she throws herself at him and wraps her arms around his neck.

"I'm pregnant" she whispers.

"Wait for me" is his desperate reply and then he is ripped from her arms and dragged off. He yells her name over and over again, calling that he loves her, as the door closes and he is gone.

Luna presses her hands to her stomach. That's his child in there. The child they made together. She stands still in the middle of the roaring crowd, not hearing them. All she hears is his voice, over and over again, sounding more distant with every moment that passes. _Luna! Luna! Luuuuunaaaa!_


	8. School Lunch

Mrs Rosie Calloway has worked as a lunch lady at Avalon School for Witchcraft for nearly fifteen years and has seen uncountable children pass through her lunch room. But she does have her favourites - especially the sweet and polite ones. Today, the menu consists of fried chicken and potatoes with a side of green beans, and as she looks out over the room she sees that most of the children have a red tray in front of them and are happily eating their lunches. Her eyes rest on a table near the windows, where a group of young girls chatter away as they eat. At the far edge of the table sits a little blonde girl with no tray in front of her. Instead, she carefully places a little blue lunch box with a brass handle in front of her, opens it, and exclaims happily over the contents. Rosie wonders, as she dishes up more potatoes into the serving tray, what Mrs Malfoy has packed for her children today that has little Elara so pleased.

She is taken from her reverie by a little blonde girl in a blue dress coming up to her station, patiently waiting her turn.

"Good day, Galathea. What would you like today?" Rosie says, smiling at the child.

"Good day Mrs Calloway, may I have some milk please?" The little girl chirps, as sweet as always.

"That'll be three knuts, dear" She replies. Galathea Malfoy looks confused.

"But yesterday, it was five knuts." She protests.

"Yes, but the headmaster has decided to lower the price, dear. From now on, the milk will be three knuts." She gives the child a small box of milk, and the girl carefully counts out three knuts from the money in her hand. Then she puts the two coins left over in her pocket and accepts the milk.

"I shall tell mother" she says as she leaves, "to only pack us three knuts tomorrow." Then she disappears back into the crowd. Rosie Calloway smiles after the girl, then goes back to serve potatoes.

A few minutes later, there are two identical little blonde girls in blue dresses in her line.

"Good day Mrs Calloway" they chorus, as polite as their sister. "May we buy some milk, please?" Rosie smiles at the eldest set of Malfoy twins.

"Hello Philomela, hello Prokne. That will be six knuts, please." She hands each girl a little box of milk and can't help but feel amused at identical looks of confusion.

"But yesterday it…." one says,

"...cost ten knuts." the other finishes. Rosie has, as always, no way of telling which one is which. The only thing telling the girls apart is how their mother has done the ribbons in their hair, but she does not know which girl has the blue and which has the white one. She explains again that the headmaster has lowered the price, and the girls say, as their sister before them, that they will tell their mother to pack them less money from now on.

"Or" Rosie says, "You can buy yourselves a chocolate chip cookie to share. It's three knuts." The girls shake their heads in tandem.

"No, mummy…" "Needs the money. Besides…" "She sent oatmeal…" "...cookies with raisins today." "Thank you…" "... Mrs Calloway. " Then they vanish into the crowd with their milk and money. Ah, thinks Mrs Calloway as she goes back to serving the children with trays, that explains it. Little Elara does love her raisins.

A while later, she smiles at the young blonde boy standing in her line: He is the first for several minutes not holding a tray.

"Hello Teddy" she says, and he grins back at her. "Three boxes of milk, hm?" He laughs, a bright tinkling noise and his hair turns an obnoxiously bright pink.

"Yes please Mrs Calloway" he says, handing over fifteen knuts. She hands back six.

"It's only three knuts each from now on" she says.

"Brilliant!" he crows, "mum will be stoked - she'll save nearly half the milk money each week!" He takes the milk, the money, thanks her, and hurries over to where his brother and sister are waiting, unpacking their lunch boxes.

Rosie can't help but look at Benedict Malfoy, who is joyfully tearing into his homemade sandwich with Mrs Malfoy's homemade bread, or his triplet sister Beatrice who cuts her red apple into slices with swift motions of the knife her mother has packed. It's amazing, she marvels, that the children with the least amount of money in the school - the ones who can never afford buying lunch or buy any other drink than milk - seem to be the sweetest and happiest. And the most polite.

She does prefer the polite ones.


	9. Rainbow

Draco puts his plate into the dishwasher and turns to take the youngest children up to bed when he realises that thirteen sets of eyes are trained at him expectantly.

"What?" He asks, confused. Luna smiles and points to the brightly coloured chart on the wall. It is a simple piece of white cardboard that his wife has decorated, with help of the youngest, and it has all their names in a neat list, next to five slightly crooked squares in different colours. All the squares have little cardboard animals placed in them, one for each colour. Apart from the top row, neatly labelled "daddy", which is empty. Draco is not really excited about the idea to do this, but they have struggled for months to get a few of their children to eat their veggies, and this scheme actually works… therefore, he puts a smile on his face and goes over to the chart.

He feels ridiculous as he picks up five little dragons that Elara has drawn and Beatrice has cut out, each with a magnet on the back, and places them carefully on the chart, listing what he's eaten during the day as he does. It's a routine that Luna has already done while he put away the dishes. Five half-moons have been put beneath his empty row.

"Let's see" he says. "For breakfast today I had a yellow banana" he places the yellow dragon in the yellow square. "For lunch, I had a red apple and there was green lettuce in my sandwich." He puts two more dragons in their places. "Then for dinner, I had some carrots" the orange dragon is put up "and for dessert, we all had grapes, so that's my blue." The last dragon is placed and the chart is full. Then he turns back to his beaming children.

"Alright" he says, doing his best to pretend to be cheerful, "On three. One… two… three…"

And as he leads his children through the "today I ate a rainbow"-song, he can't help but feel warmth bloom in his chest. His old school friends would laugh their arses off at him, but his wife and children are beaming. And really, what's a bit of embarrassment when that is his reward?


	10. Hospital

If anyone would like to buy a wand or anything to do with wand care and upkeep this bright summer morning, they will be disappointed at being met by a locked door and a sign reading "CLOSED for doctor's appointment."

The reason for this is that the man who runs the shop under Mr Ollivander's watchful eye is walking down the street hand in hand with his crying daughter. She's clinging to his hand and sobbing.

"It hurts daddy, it really hurts and I can't hear!"

He soothes her as well as he can.

"I know, Elara. But the doctor is going to have a look at you and make you all better."

* * *

In the waiting room she does not want to play, just crawls into his lap and cries, her little face buried in his shirt. He rocks and croons and mentally resigns himself to having to get changed before returning to the shop: he can't work with a snot-stained shirt.

The doctor looks in Elara's ear and states that it's just wax plugging it up, and while draco distracts her by telling stories the wax is removed and some soothing ointment is put on the irritated skin.

They walk home together, hand in hand, Elara bouncing and chattering excitedly now that her ear is all better, and Draco thinks with some longing of the crying, miserable child of last night. She had been quiet. But then she tugs at his arm, and as he looks down and is met with her big grin and the gap between her front teeth where she's lost two baby teeth that haven't been replaced yet and he can't help but smile back at his funny little girl.


End file.
